|
|
|
Plus a reader's review of the Asus Nexus 7 smartphone
David Kershaw writes to express his disagreement at our review of the Asus Nexus 7, specifically that our comment on the suggested alternative product, the Blackberry Playbook, as ‘for penny pinchers only'.
Says Mr Kershaw: "I think this is a little harsh and the current 64GB model at £129 is a steal. It is fast, with a good display and delivers amazing sound for such a small device.
"The sync software works robustly, and video transfer is a doddle. I can email with ease and surf the net with no problems. Apps are scarce but a lot are just finicky anyway, and the Playbook just does what I need. Facebook and Twitter work fine, although it would be ace to have Skype too. So give the Blackberry a break and do not discourage well-designed budget tech."
Well, reviews are about opinions and on this occasion we will respectfully disagree with Mr Kershaw. However, we should point out that our review of the Playbook was published in October 2011, shortly after its launch. Back then the price was £399 and our verdict was that with so few apps the product offered little long-term value.
We were more complimentary about other aspects - read the updated review of the Blackberry Playbook.
A year on and the range of apps has not expanded significantly, hence the price cut to the figure Mr Kershaw quotes. With Amazon's Kindle Fire just about to go on sale at a similar price, we believe most buyers will find greater value in that product and others.
Tony Jones didn't wait for our review before buying the Asus Nexus 7, and we're happy to share his experience of the product.
"I enjoyed your review of the Nexus 7 and as somebody who purchased one of these as soon as it came out I think it was well-balanced and accurate. I did not mind the lack of HDMI output though do wish that the £199 (16GB version) could have stretched to an SD card slot.
"The unit is well-made, responsive, feels great and has a good screen. The key reasons I bought one were its size - I do not think the iPad is practical for commuting - nor did I want to spend huge sums of money on an iPad or get locked into iTunes.
"That aside, it is true that this is a flagship product and many apps have yet to become tablet-aware - they look wrong blown up for the screen or don't even, as yet, run on the Android Jelly Bean operating system (examples include Flickr and BBC iPlayer). Overall I believe this will kick-start the Android tablet market and the gripes about apps will become forgotten by next year.
What's your view?
To contribute to the Computeractive reader blog, email the editor. If you are referring to an item published on the website, please provide the page address. If commenting on something in the magazine, please include the issue number or publication date, and the page number.
A new home for the Caps Lock Alert program
Hosting the files for the Caps Lock Alert program on Dropbox wasn't really working. Not least because...
Gmail users: The dot in your email address is irrelevant
For the last few months I've been getting someone else's emails. Recently I received an invitation to...
Minecraft comes to the Raspberry Pi
Great news for all Raspberry Pi owners, especially those hoping to keep their children interesting in...
The broken promise of smart TVs
Smart TVs, or internet-connected TVs as they should really be called, were supposed to make watching...
by Garryjames on A new standard for cooling fans?
by Edgar Mills on A new home for the Caps Lock Alert program
by Dave on Windows 8 - readers' first verdicts
by dave batter on Computeractive Caps Alert Update
Updating your subscription status 
Save money by switching to fast 3G broadband
Playbook,take a look!
I bought the 64 GB Playbook from the BlackBerry website 6 or so months ago for 300 bucks. Weighed the pros and cons and bet that blackberry would recover. I remember when apple was on the ropes back in the 90s and I'm glad I bet on them as well. The 64 gb playbook was a steal compared to 800 for an ipad. I've never used an ipad or an android tablet but this playbook with flash never leaves me wanting. I bought it because I needed a tablet so I could maximize study time on the go taking some business courses online. It just plain worked. Recently I have discovered SimpleBrowser +. It is the absolute best browser I have used on the playbook. The screen grab feature on the playbook allows me to grab frames and save them in the pictures folder and arrange them for study review almost like a presentation. I grab frames from pdfs and I can annotate them with the qPdf app. I use smart office 2 for word docs. The blackberry news alerts keeps me up to date. The neutron mp3 player can make this tablet play music impressively loud with EQ. The blackberry calculator is very useful. Although there is no kindle app I access my textbooks at read.amazon.com with no problem using SimpleBrowser +. Evernote is okay. Splashtop is cool. And the email app is perfect for me. I highly recommend the playbook for any student even if they already have an ipad because the multitasking on the playbook makes this device very efficient and fast to use.
Posted by HB, 17 Nov 2012
Playbook
I have the first generation Playbook and it still beats most devices out nexus 7 and iPad mini incluced. I agree I do wish skpe and netflix offered an app for the playbook. The New Operating System will and phones will drop January 30th. RIMM is keeping the new apps a secret but If RIMM offers those 2 apps along with the New Operating Syestem, thigs will start to get interesting.
Posted by Taede, 18 Nov 2012
Blackberry Playbook
My Playbook works well. I've downloaded some great FPS games and the HDMI out is great. You can also use your BB phone as a remote.
Posted by Steven, 19 Nov 2012
Playbook evry time
I have had a play book from its release in the UK. Seems I paid a heafty price by today's standards but it has more than met my needs in ways that my Ipad 2 has never done. Whilst the ipad is now relegated to a kids toy I still love the playbook. The apps library is considerable and I feel the ratio of quality to rubbish apps on the playbook to be much better than the ipad selection. I don't want to try 300 rubbish apps to find one good one. In most cases is only the good ones that port to the playbook. Skype? I only want it because someone says I can't do with out it. (That's the dormant fanboy in me!). I have never needed it and probably never will. Last January my work phone changed from Nokia to BB now the playbook has greater benefit. A bigger screen for my emails yet portable. My Ipad is as big as my work laptop and does less so why carry them both and in a taxi, tube or plane the size of the playbook come into its own. The few times I have had my Ipad nearly knocked out of my hands tells me that. So - no - I disagree with your review which is unfairly portraying the playbook and having tried the nexus and seen what is offers, it will not be on my list to replace my playbook if anything were to happen to it. It will be same again for me.
Posted by Bill, 22 Nov 2012
Playbook GPS is just awful
I bought one of the 64 GB playbooks intending to use it as a satnav in my car. I had to leave it outside for an hour before it picked up a location. There are no good satnav apps available, the best being an Android port, Osmand+ which has so many issues it just isn't useable. The browser is okay, and it plays video well, but for me, the iPad beats it hand down. In fact, thinking about it now, the only time the Playbook gets used is when I show people how bad it is
Posted by Gordon, 11 Dec 2012
GPS fine by me.
Locked onto satellites within 2 minutes (same as my Tom Tom) Google maps straight away showed my location and a picture of my actual house! Browser and mail are excellent. Multi tasks very well. I have no need for Skype or films. Entirely satisfied with my Playbook. Roger
Posted by Roger Provins, 23 Dec 2012
BB write their own reviews
The glowing reviews of playbook are ludicrous. It's fine for emails and browsing, but not slick video calling is desperately needed. Bluetooth only works with a BlackBerry phone. Imagine if your Nokia or Samsung phone couldn't send a bluetooth photo or file to another branded device? BlackBerry must revolve around the world, not the other way around.
Posted by Crailman, 09 Jan 2013
Playbook Family Bittersweet, but more Sweet than Bitter
First purchased a cheap android pad for my 7 year old Christmas 2011, it was HORRIBLE so I returned it and gave a 16GB playbook a try. I liked it so much that I bought one for myself. My 5 year old asked for one this year so I bought a 64GB for myself and gave my 5 year old the 16GB. The price of all 3 came to $550! Found a couple of serious heavy duty cases for the little ones playbooks with built in kick stands. As of late a lot of apps have came available, but the lack of easily accessible apps is a definite downside of the playbook, although it has all of the apps I need. The HDMI out is EXCELLENT. I put the insanity workout videos on mine and play them on my big screen every morning. I use google calendars to keep up with everything, and I am able to keep multiple calendars synced. Email works beautifully. Screen is great. All in all, the hardware is EXCELLENT, the downsides are not being able to easily get apps (sideloading is necessary), HORRIBLE support from blackberry (wish I could go into a blackberry store of some sort a.la Apple for support). I am sure there are better tablets for similar $, but I'm pretty happy with our playbooks!
Posted by OmegaRoach, 13 Jan 2013